Intuition
by BleedingCoffee
Summary: AU where Roy Mustang trusts a gut instinct and asks Maes to wait on a visit from him before he snoops around Central looking for answers about the happenings in Liore. Roy ends up saving Maes's life without knowing it, but the day isn't over yet.


**AN**: For FMAWeek2015 Day 1 Prompt: Trust. Because of a "Visual Card" of Maes showing Roy pics at a bar when the poor man looks about ready to drown in his drink.

**Summary:** Au where Roy Mustang trusts a gut instinct and asks Maes to wait on a visit from him before he snoops around Central looking for answers about the happenings in Liore. Roy ends up saving Maes's life without knowing it, but the day isn't over yet.

**Warnings:** RoyAi, Alternative History, alcohol

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA

* * *

_Intuition_

* * *

"Look Roy, she's holding the toy you got her!"

Roy winced as Maes's drink spilled as he held it up over their heads in a celebratory gesture. Instead of trying to get away from his best friend he leaned over the table and put his head down to stare into his own drink and watch the ice melt. Maes wrapped his arm around his neck to prevent him from going anywhere as the picture show continued.

"And this is her feeding squirrels!"

Roy took a sip of bourbon and savored the flavor before letting it slide down his throat. The bar was noisy and most patrons weren't getting the full Hughes experience like he was. His semi-drunk friend was screaming in his ear, partial due to the volume in the establishment and mostly because of the three Scotches he had already downed. Apparently being a proud father didn't stop him from reliving the good old days when his best friend came to town.

"LOOK! She got her hair cut!"

Roy groaned as another splash of scotch hit his head and soaked into his scalp. He was going to smell like a distillery by the time they were done 'catching up' and there was no way he was going to be able to drive Maes home like this. Maes was in no condition to find his car more or less get behind the wheel, so that left him with calling a cab.

"The kitty Alphonse let her play with! On my god, have you ever seen anything so adorable?"

Roy winced as the glass hit him in the head as Maes swung his hand around in delight. Now he was questioning why he felt the need to come visit Maes when he said he was following some leads in Central. There was no rational explanation for it, just a twinge of _something _deep down inside that made him feel like he didn't want Maes digging around by himself. That if there was something sinister going on in Amestris than there was a high probability it had some roots in the military. There wasn't anything the military didn't have it's hand in and he couldn't help but wonder if someone in Central Command had a part in it. So that gut feeling that had saved his life a few times in Ishval, reared up and bit him. It could have just been indigestion for all he knew, but he followed his gut and it landed him here: At the bar having scotch spilled all over his head while Maes showed him 4200 pictures of his daughter. Again.

"She bragged about you to her friend Rosie! Rosie's Mom just got divorced and she wanted her to know you'd be a nice Daddy and give her Mommy flowers. Isn't that so sweet!?"

Roy sighed. Yes, his little niece was having to set him up with strangers in the park because it was so obvious to a four year old that her Uncle was a lonely piece of shit who couldn't find a woman to marry on his own. He stared into his amber alcohol and avoided looking at the stack of photos next to his head. He loved his best friend and was happy for him that he had a great family and that life he always dreamed of. He _was _happy for him. However tonight Maes was going home to his lovely wife and wonderful family and Roy was going to go stay in his old room at his Mom's bar. He'd go to bed alone with only the images of the happy little girl and the Hughes's perfect family to keep him company. The images of this love and joy burned in his retinas, so when he closed his eyes he couldn't stop them front shining through to his miserable mind. Then he'd go out into the bar after it closed and buy himself a bottle of something that would force him to stop thinking. He'd sit in the bar, listen to the sounds from upstairs of girls entertaining other men who desperately needed a break from reality. Tomorrow morning, he'd get lecture from his foster mother as she tried to help him through his awful hangover. He was happy for Maes, he just wished he didn't have has face rubbed in that happiness.

"Look Roy, I have a picture from the birthday party! You and Riza. Look at how cute you guys look with my little girl in her arms and...well you guys aren't getting any younger and Elicia should have a cousin to play with."

Roy finally looked at a picture, his eyes had no problems focusing on Riza and her beautiful smile. God, he'd love to go home to her and a family...but he couldn't say that. He couldn't admit that out loud because there wasn't enough alcohol in this world to drown out that kind of pain.

"You'd be a great father Roy. At least you would be with Riza's supervision. Wow, your kids would be either the best kids ever or the most destructive force in the universe."

_Just stop Maes._ Roy couldn't pry his eyes from the picture. _Fucking hell, why did you have to pull this one out? _

"I guess you already have your destructive kids. The Elrics are like a natural disaster. Good kids but DAMN do they do a lot of damage. You guys are super cute with them too."

Roy finally sat up and felt another splash of scotch on his shoulder. "I think it's time we get you home."

Maes frowned. "But we've only looked at ten percent of the pictures."

"Why are we doing this in a bar?" Roy asked.

"It's past Elicia's bedtime and the restaurants are closed."

Roy looked over his shoulder to try to grab the glass Maes was still holding aloft like a torch. It was almost empty. As he reached for the glass a woman at a neighboring table waved at him and blew him a kiss. Her companion was busy gnawing on the table. Well, if they ordered food here it was a possibility that they had been waiting a while, service here was terrible. He wasn't exactly in the mood to flirt with anyone so he gave her a smile and returned to disarming his best friend. "Still, it's time you return you to your family."

Maes hugged him and squeezed until he heard a wheeze. "I want you to have a family too. I want you to be happy and stop being such a grumpy man-whore."

"I appreciate that but..." Roy squeaked. "Pick up your pictures while I go call a cab and pay our bill."

"I have a car."

"There is also a cop sitting outside waiting to arrest anyone driving under the influence." Roy sniffed his shirt as soon as Maes released him. "And you dumped enough Scotch on me to alert him to the fact that I've been drinking."

"True."

"Stay put." Roy said and slipped out of his friend's grasp and made his way to the bar. It wasn't how he expected his night to go, but it was nice to spend time with Maes without his family around. Then again, the Hughes family was still here in photographic form so they never really left Maes's side. The Academy days of drinking and bar-hopping were long gone, neither of them was the same foolish youth that came to this same bar years earlier. Roy watched his waitress ring up his tab and opened his wallet. He looked at a picture of his team sitting on the steps in East City park when they sat down and ate some sandwiches from the vendor cart. He had taken them out for lunch on a Saturday as a treat for all the overtime he had been forcing on them. Fullmetal and Breda almost bankrupted him, but it was still a good memory. A gentleman who took pictures of kids on ponies in the park had snapped the candid and he bought a copy for the office and one for his wallet. It was as close to a family as he was going to get. He threw some Cenz on the bar and asked the bartender to call a cab for them, letting him know he'd be back for the car in the morning. Then he turned and returned to Hughes's side as he started the picture show for that hot chick who had blown him a kiss earlier. She was wearing a long black dress that did little to hide anything including the cleavage spilling out front the top that threatened to engulf Maes head if he wasn't careful. "Make new friends?"

"They asked about my beautiful daughter!"

"I seriously doubt that." Roy said and the woman gave him another appraising look.

"I bet your kids are adorable too." The woman said.

"And yummy."

Roy cocked an eyebrow at the larger guy beside her who was shoveling peanuts into his mouth.

"Excuse my brother, he means 'cute enough to eat'." The woman patted the fat man's head.

"Roy doesn't have kids yet." Maes sighed dramatically. "A real shame."

"My name is Solaris." The woman said.

"He's taken." Maes said and stood up. "Sorry ma'am, my best friend has a beautiful woman waiting for him at home and two adopted boys."

Roy frowned and Maes looped his arm around him and stuffed the picture with Riza and Elicia in his pocket. "Maes..."

"You're not fooling anyone." Maes whispered and then waved to the two people at the table. The big guy was eating the left over cheesy fries so he started to shove Roy towards the door. "I know you want to burn my camera most of the time and you suffer through all my pictures and happiness...well I want to beat the hell out of you for not seeing you already have a family. Family comes in many varieties and if yours happens to be some guys at the office, your childhood love and two orphan alchemists then that's great too. You chose some really hard path and you want to protect everyone so you can't have a traditional family right now. I get it. You can't have her...I get that too. Open your eyes though, you already made yourself a heck of a nice family and see them more than I see mine. Guess I'm actually a little jealous of you."

"How much did you drink?" Roy asked and coughed as Hughes's arm clamped down around his neck instead of his shoulders.

Maes staggered out of the restaurant using his best friend as a stabilizer. "I left my camera in the car. I need that."

"Why?" Roy mumbled as he was stepped on, choked and bumped into on the way to the side street. "I'm not staying at your place tonight, I don't want more pictures of me showing up at the office."

"Those were for Riza." Maes giggled. "I thought you looked cute in my ducky pajama pants."

"I thought the black eye suited you too."

"Shhhh." Hughes squeezed his friend and looked at the two people sitting on the back step of the bar. It was the lady they just met and her friend the garbage disposal. "Fangirl at 11 o'clock."

"I guess I could take my lunch early." Roy said not seeing what was going on as his head was smooshed against Hughes's chest. "But I thought I was 'taken' remember? Or are we just using one of my normal girls for this date?"

"No, that chick from the bar." Maes let Roy go so he could see what he was talking about. Something felt off, something about her smile was a little too sinister and not sexy. It struck a cord and made his guts tingle. He reached behind him for the knife on his belt. "Careful."

The tone Hughes used alerted Roy to the fact that something was amiss. He casually slipped his hands into his pockets and began to snake them into his gloves. It was something he started practicing in meetings when he was bored figuring it would come in handy someday. "Service in this place is really going to hell. Did you ever get your dinner?"

"No." The large man mumbled. "I'm so hungry."

Roy glanced at the woman who was leaning against the back door and playing with her hair. "Not much else open this time of night."

"I hear there is a place on the south side, called Christmas's Bar. They say you should bring your appetite weather it's sexual not."

"It's closed now." Roy said and narrowed his eyes at her. "They don't stay open late on Thursdays."

"Pity." She gave him a smile seeing that both men were tense and suspicious. "I guess we'll have to settle for hospital food. I'll be curious to see who shows up to identify your bodies...we'll have to keep tabs on how far this leak may have gone."

"Let me eat him Lust." The large man whined and sucked his thumb. "He smells smokey, like barbecue."

"No, Gluttony dear. We want them to find the bodies." Lust stepped down off the stairs and smirked. "That way it's a warning to the others to not dig too deep in their search for Truth. Such a shame to lose a sacrifice though."

* * *

She could could hear them before she reached the room and the sound of their voices carrying down the halls of the hospital did little to crush the panic in her heart. Riza's steps were rushed as she made her way around a kid in a wheelchair, a few nurses and a cart of food. She had to see them, she had to physically see _him_ in order to know he was alive and her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. She reached the door and stepped inside the room, just in time to see Roy throw a Jell-O cup at Maes.

"Sorry for saving you life!"

"You roasted me!" Maes threw the Jell-O back at him. "Would it have killed you to research medical alchemy? I mean out of all the things you've learned for the hell of it...why not some battlefield medicine? No...you learn Xingese!"

"How about I just leave you to be eaten next time?"

"Only if you roast me first, I'd hate to have someone get sick from eating uncooked meat."

Riza wasn't expecting this. "Gentleman, please refrain from screaming sensitive information in the hospital please."

"Riza..I mean Lieutenant!" Roy said and was distracted momentarily allowing Maes to lob a empty pitcher at him.

Riza closed the door and moved a little closer to the bed. "What happened? I was expecting you at work this morning and instead got a phone call informing me your were in the hospital. When I called the doctor said you were in surgery."

"Maes was doing some investigating which didn't go unnoticed." Roy began.

"Excuse me for helping you overthrow the government and uncovering secrets." Maes grumbled.

"So instead of thanking me for asking him to wait for help." Roy shot his best friend a glare. "Help, I might add that probably saved your life since they were ready to ambush you in Central Command but held off because there were two of us."

"Help? You mean strut down the corridors of Central Command flirting and giving out your phone number to attract more attention? Leave the investigations to me Roy."

"I'm not dreaming this up. Lust confessed to us that she was planning to kill you for what you found." Roy countered. He swallowed hard as his best friend gave him a look, right before the light caught his glasses and hid his eyes. He almost lost Maes. Maes's family almost lost the center of tehir universe because of his own ambitions. They had been dancing around the subject ever since he got out of surgery, avoiding the topic of _what if _ Roy's gut instinct didn't bring him to Central yesterday. _What if_ Maes had been in that room alone? Thankfully Riza alleviated the awkward silence for them.

"What did you find and who is Lust?" Riza asked.

"Lust is dead." Roy said satisfactorily. "The bitch skewered us both after I got Gluttony to eat Maes's car so I could ignite the gas tank."

"Are you two on medication? Riza asked.

"Yes, but this is the truth." Maes said and grunted. "Lust followed us from Central after we uncovered information that the battles in Amestris all correspond with a transmutation circle that the Elrics have uncovered in their research. There is something going on that involves high command and probably the Fuhrer...all involving philosopher's stones."

"So these two who attacked you..." Riza watched Roy's eyes dart over to his friend, his uneasiness was radiating off him. He was having a hard time comprehending something or accepting it. She wasn't sure which. However he cleared his throat and began talking again.

"Weren't human." Roy said definitively. "I killed the woman but not the other one, named Gluttony. I blew him up but he regenerated. We had time to get into the street and there must have been too many witnesses for him to come out of the alley. "

"Colonel, what made you decide to come to Central yesterday?" Riza asked. "Did you know something about this?"

He heard the hurt in her voice, like he withheld information from her. To anyone else they'd think it was a slight against his trust in her as a subordinate or a bodyguard, but to him he knew that it was something much deeper than that. "It was...a gut instinct. Just something didn't set right with me when Hughes called and said he was looking into something in Liore. He asked about the Elrics, hoping they were around to ask a few questions. We both knew that the Elrics weren't there, they had gone to visit their teacher so I knew he was looking into something serious. I just...had a bad feeling."

She heard the shame in his voice as he admitted that. For a scientist to admit he acted on something so intangible as a 'feeling' instead of evidence was a painful admission. He trusted his gut, something she had encouraged him to do so many times. "I'm glad you did. You probably saved the Lt. Colonel's life."

"See." Roy said as he looked over to the next bed.

Hughes smirked at him. "I said thank you, I just asked if you could maybe turn down the heat a little next time."

Riza watched to reach out and touch Roy, he was covered in scratched and bandages and moved very stiffly. He was hurting. "Are you both OK?"

"We were both punctured by her fingernails and she hit Maes's spleen. I closed up the wound with my flames so he wouldn't bleed to death and now he's going to make me regret that for the rest of my life."

"It's just that...I have a great body and I like to show it off at the pool." Maes groaned as he tried to get comfortable.

"So you're both OK, but there is still an individual out there trying to kill you?" Riza clarified.

"Oh yes. Especially Roy." Maes grunted. "He killed Gluttony's friend Lust, we heard the creature wailing in the alley. We took precautions...my people, Brosh and Ross are outside on guard duty."

Roy tried to take a deep breath and settled for a wheeze. "I expect you to name your next child after me for saving your life...twice."

"Roy Hughes." Maes shook his head. "Nah...maybe Sparky Hughes?"

"Not funny." Roy sighed.

Riza pulled a chair over and sat down next to Roy. His chest rose and fell slowly and only slightly, each breath was painful. She couldn't see under the sheet or his shirt to determine what else had happened but his arms were bandaged as was his hand. "Are you really OK?"

"With him calling me Sparky? No." Roy snorted and Maes whined as his laughter cause some pain. "With our low deductible and excellent medical insurance. Yes."

"Oh that's right..." Maes whined as he started to laugh again. "I already have a child named Roy. Complete with pictures of him in his duckie jammies on my couch. Riza...when are you going to take him off my hands?"

"Lieutenant, shoot him."

"Where is _my_ wife? " Maes asked. "She went to get me some coffee and left me alone with Sparky."

"Stop calling me that!" Roy growled and let loose a low hiss as he pulled at some wounds under his bandage.

"Sir, what is your level of danger? Do I need to call in reinforcements? Do we need to get you to a safe house?" Riza wasn't sure what to make of them bantering back and forth. Usually Hughes was the obnoxious one and Roy broody and quiet. Whatever happened in that alley made them both uncomfortable enough to continue joking about it the day after.

"You should at least call your kids and tell them Mommy and Daddy aren't going to be home." Maes shifted.

"Stop implying the Elrics are our damned kids." Roy snapped back.

"Please." Maes settled into his bed and closed his eyes. "I saw you fretting over them during that Shou Tucker business. And Hawkeye always doting on them. If anything, Riza deserves parent of the year for putting up with you and Ed."

"Are you sure he's not medicated?" Riza asked and Roy also slumped into his bed and took a long, labored breath.

"Can you have someone get in touch with the Elrics?" He asked as he rolled his head over to look at her worried face. "See if you can get them back to Central. They're onto something and it involves the military. We need to be careful...this goes all the way to the top."

Riza held her breath as she realized the implications of that. The Fuhrer was involved? Of course, something of this magnitude couldn't go on without his knowledge...but from what they were saying...he had a hand in implementing it. She heard the door creak open and quickly said, "Yes, sir."

"Daddy!"

Maes shuffled back into a sitting position as he heard his daughter's voice. "Hi princess."

"Are you hurt Daddy?" Elicia ran over to his bed and clenched his outstretched hand. Her Grandma drove her to the hospital after Mommy called and said it was Ok to visit.

"A little, but I'll be fine." Maes shifted his eyes over to his best friend who he really needed to thank for trusting his gut instinct this time. He did save his life. To think that yesterday morning could have been the last time he saw his precious Elicia's face made him choke up a little. "Uncle Roy saved my life."

Elicia's eyes grew wide and she turned around to look at her Uncle. "Thank you Uncle Roy!"

Roy's eyes drifted to Maes, the little girl didn't quite comprehend the magnitude of that statement but he did. He didn't know how he could live with himself if he took Maes from his family. "I..."

"Tell me the story?" Elicia asked as she turned back to look at her Daddy and squeezed his hand. "Please?"

"Why is there green Jell-O on the floor?" Gracia asked as she finally made it past the doorway and saw the mess between the two beds.

"Roy needs to grow up." Maes said with a smile as his wife came over and gave him his coffee. He took a sip and smiled.

Riza finally found a moment to slip her hand on to the bed and touch Roy's hand. She needed reassurance that he was here and alive, there was so much these two were not telling her. He entwined his fingers into hers without taking his eyes off the Hughes family, doing his best to hide the tender moment from prying eyes.

"Roy needs to grow up _and get a wife._" Maes continued and shot Riza a smile. "One that will discipline him when he gets cantankerous and wastes a perfectly good dessert because it's the wrong color."

Roy glared back at him. "I wanted red."

"Whatever Sparky." Maes took another sip of coffee. "OK, so who is ready for a story?"


End file.
